Is Lindsay Lohan's nude, Marilyn Monroe-inspired pictorial in Playboy a desperate ploy for attention from a trouble-plagued star?

Not so, the 25-year-old actress tells the men's magazine, in just-released quotes from her interview. (The cover and interior shots were leaked online earlier in the week, prompting the mag to move up the release date.)

"Sex and sexuality are a part of nature, and I go along with nature," the "Mean Girls" star says of her in-the-buff photos, which are an homage to the late Monroe's own iconic Playboy spread. "Knowing yourself and your body is so important because it gives you confidence, and in life, women need confidence."

In the leaked pics, Lohan wears just a pair of a pumps, with her blonde locks in retro-style waves and with her lips a bright shade of vampy red.

"It's a very male-dominated world to begin with, so knowing yourself and being comfortable with your body is an important thing for me as a woman. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but this is mine."

The former Disney cutiepie, of course, hasn't had the most confidence-building several years, as her movie roles dried up and she ran into frequent troubles with the law over her partying, her drug and alcohol abuse, a related DUI, subsequent probation violations, even the theft of an expensive necklace.

But, looking forward, she says she's learned from those transgressions. "Ultimately we are each responsible for ourselves and for our actions," says the star, who has dodged long-term jail sentences more than once. "Looking back, I probably would have listened to and taken more advice from the people whom I admire and would have followed through with it more."

How did the real trouble begin? Muses Lohan: "My stubbornness at 18 and 19 years old got in the way. During the past five years, I've learned that time flies faster than you think, and because you only live once you have to learn from your mistakes, live your dreams and be accountable."